Criterion Games

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Criterion Software's 3D texture mapping and rendering programme, RenderWare, was first released in 1993 as a software library for the C programming language and was adopted by 800 companies worldwide by October 1996. The firm also provided a demo game, CyberStreet, while fully-fledged games were developed by companies like 47Tek. In response to competitor Argonaut Software developing full games to showcase its BRender technology, Criterion Software hired new staff in 1995 to establish a dedicated game development division. The division, Criterion Games, was founded in January 1996, at the time employing 25 people. RenderWare 3 was first used in Burnout (2000), not Grand Theft Auto III. Publishing rights to the game were sold to Acclaim Entertainment, and Acclaim owned the Burnout intellectual property until Electronic Arts acquired the Burnout IP when it purchased Criterion Games in 2004. Acclaim published Burnout (2000) and its sequel, Burnout 2: Point of Impact (2002), which accumulated around 2 million sales. Despite this, Acclaim—a U.S.-based publisher—struggled to market Burnout effectively in the United States due to factors beyond just being its home territory, leading to poor sales in the country.

In Their Own Story

In July 2004, EA announced that it had reached an agreement with Canon's European arm, Canon Europe, to acquire all of the Criterion Software group, including Criterion Games. The deal was finalised on 19 October 2004, with EA paying US$68 million. After the purchase, both Criterion and Electronic Arts declared that RenderWare would continue to be made available to third-party customers. However, some clients decided it was too risky to rely on technology owned by a competitor. Electronic Arts has since withdrawn RenderWare from the commercial middleware market, although remnants are still used by internal developers. In early March 2007, Electronic Arts combined its Chertsey-based UK development studio and Criterion Games into a new building in central Guildford. Integration of the teams did not occur and the location housed two very separate development studios: Criterion Games and EA Bright Light before Bright Light was shut permanently in 2011. In November 2007, co-founder and CEO David Lau-Kee made the decision to leave Electronic Arts to concentrate on advisory activities within the games industry. Adam Billyard also left Electronic Arts as CTO of EATech in 2007 to pursue other projects.

Reader's Guide

On 14 June 2010, Criterion announced that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was set for release in November 2010. The software utilises a new game engine named Chameleon. On 1 June 2012, Electronic Arts announced Criterion's second Need for Speed title, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, which was released on 30 October 2012. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, Criterion Games announced that it had taken sole ownership of the Need for Speed franchise. On 28 April 2013, Alex Ward announced via Twitter that the studio is planning to steer away from its tradition of developing racing games and is instead focusing on other genres for future projects. On 13 September 2013, Criterion elected to cut its staff numbers to 17 people total, as 80% (70 people) of the studio moved over to Ghost Games UK to work with Need for Speed games. On 3 January 2014, Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry left Criterion and founded a new studio, Three Fields Entertainment. In 2018, EA announced that Battlefield V would have a battle royale mode and would be developed by Criterion. Following the release of the mode (later revealed to be called Firestorm), development was halted soon after with the mode considered a failure by fans. In 2020, Criterion was announced to return as the main developer of the Need for Speed series, but work on the title was put on hold as Criterion was assigned to do additional work, including vehicular gameplay, on the next Battlefield game in March 2021. The aforementioned game, Battlefield 2042, was released on 19 November 2021. In May 2022, EA merged Codemasters subsidiary Codemasters Cheshire (the successor studio of Evolution Studios) into Criterion Games to support efforts on the Need for Speed series as the two companies were already working together on a new title in the series for months. On 6 October 2022, the project was revealed to be Need for Speed Unbound, which utilises DICE's proprietary Frostbite engine. Unbound was released on 2 December 2022, following which five senior members of Criterion announced their departures from the studio, including the current studio GM, Matt Webster. They created Fuse Games in 2023. While Criterion was originally placed within EA Sports following EA's restructuring in early 2023, EA moved Criterion into EA Entertainment in September 2023 as to support the development of the Battlefield series. It was reported that the studio will still continue to build the Need for Speed games, however internal development shifted entirely to the development of Battlefield 6. In August 2025, EA began a formal shift of focus for Criterion, with the name of the studio becoming Criterion – A Battlefield Studio.

Did You Know?

• Criterion Games was founded in January 1996 as a division of Criterion Software, which itself was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon in December 1993.
• The studio's first game, Burnout (2000), and its sequel Burnout 2: Point of Impact (2002), accumulated around 2 million sales combined.
• In September 2013, Criterion cut its staff to 17 people, with 70 staff moving to Ghost Games UK to work on Need for Speed titles.
• Criterion developed the battle royale mode Firestorm for Battlefield V, which received updates for several months before support was discontinued.
• In August 2025, EA renamed the studio to 'Criterion – A Battlefield Studio' to focus entirely on the Battlefield series.

Revival of a Classic Franchise

On 1 June 2012, Electronic Arts announced Criterion's second Need for Speed title, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, which was released on 30 October 2012. At Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, Criterion Games announced that it had taken sole ownership of the Need for Speed franchise.

Innovative Social and Cross-Platform Systems

The source does not mention Autolog, Cloudcompete, or cross-platform systems for Most Wanted. This section cannot be written from the source.

Open World Design and Gameplay Mechanics

The source does not describe the city of Fairhaven, event types, or gameplay mechanics for Most Wanted. This section cannot be written from the source.

Critical Acclaim and Platform-Specific Enhancements

The source does not mention critical acclaim, awards, or platform-specific enhancements for Most Wanted. This section cannot be written from the source.

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